This episode was impossible to cap. Completely impossible. How on earth am I supposed to pick only thirty-six shots given just how much awesome content Mondaiji manages to bring to the table? Between the bathing scene, the combat, and the yukata skit, it was scarily easy to rack up awesome caps.

I think I’ve decided that Mondaiji is without a doubt my favourite winter season show this year. Everything it does, it does well. The story still isn’t the strongest, but it tends to serve no more purpose than an outline in which the characters can screw around to give rise to everything from stunning action to pretty damn funny comedy. Even Kurousagi being the butt of most jokes never seems to get old, and as we saw last episode, when something is on the verge of growing stale, it’s quickly revamped and becomes immediately entertaining once more.

The idea of being left on the sidelines clearly doesn’t sit well with Izayoi. It was only a momentary reaction, but there was obvious irritation in his eyes when Shiroyasha suggested the idea. He’s been cooperative so far, but only because things fell in line with his own goals – to have as much fun as humanly possible. It would be interesting to see what would happen if someone tried to force him… I imagine it wouldn’t end well! Despite that short-lived conflict, Shiroyasha and Izayoi seem to be true kindred spirits, quite possibly even the ultimate combination! Between them, their observations were quite… astute. Izayoi’s were perhaps more entertaining though! Interesting to see where his interests seem to lie…

Once again, there was a fair bit of focus on Asuka this week and how she feels about everything. It has to be pretty hard for her to realise her gift doesn’t work on everything given how it seems to imply she had complete control over everyone and everything in the world she originally hails from. At first she didn’t seem to be taking it well and she obviously considers herself inferior to both Izayoi and You despite her masterful sword skills, but it’s good to see that she’s resolved to aim higher and improve rather than wallowing in despair. If nothing else, being in the Little Garden grants her the freedom she (or rather her ojou-sama character archetype) has always desired.

Along with the threat to the Rise of the Fire Dragon Festival, two new characters were properly introduced this week. The loli princess Sandora Dortlake (Sadohara Kaori) and her overprotective elder brother Mandola (Konishi Katsuyuki). It is their community that’s mostly threatened by the Demon Lord attack that may be on the horizon and working closely with the no-names to prevent it, I feel as though Mandola may warm a bit more towards them. This is evidently not necessary for his sister. The attack will undoubtedly come from Rattenfänger with their obvious connections to the Pied Piper and the swarm of rats Asuka was forced to face. All things considered, it seems quite likely they’ll be facing off against someone with very similar powers to hers. It’s kind of sad there are only three episodes left.

I don’t know about Mandora. I’m getting some evil vibes off him. “My little sister is running forward to greet two of her closest friends. I’ll just murder one of them right in front of her for having had the effrontery to dare exist in our exalted presence.” Not to mention his badmouthing of Shiroyasha, one of the more respected and powerful residents of the Garden, and his unwillingness to pay any attention to her warning, despite the significant danger it could mean to everyone in his community.

This show has not exactly been subtle this far: people who give off villain cues have generally turned out to be villains. And I’m getting some off of this guy.

I’m on the fence on this, I also thought it was excessive to draw his sword like that but at the same time it’s possible he acted with genuine concern for his sister and their community – given how it’s shown many people didn’t like Sandora being a floor master, I bet there are people who are waiting for her to make a mistake and I can see how this in turn could make Mandola, both as her brother and second-in-command(I’m guessing), overprotective.No one becomes overprotective by ill-intent…….probably.

Although this will probably never be explored I’m curious as to why Sandora is the leader of Salamandra if it was family succession thing the elder sibling would have been chosen if not I assume it has something to do with skill or abilities or some other reason.

without getting into spoilers, let me just say mandola’s action isn’t entirely strange … just think about how the peruses guy treated members of No-Names before… Because the community has no name and no flag, most people naturally looks down to them, so for a head of the community and a new floor master to be friend with people from a no-name community, it can be seen as insult already. This is part of the reason why it was so hard for No-Name to reclaim its former glories and why Leticia wanted Jin to disband in the first place.

It’s also a probability right?But you do have a point and it does make more sense that way, she could have taken the position after her father died and Mandola could be trying to fulfill his duties as the second-in-command.

Really liked Asuka in the last couple of episodes the fact that she chooses to control gifts instead of people with her gift because she thinks it’s immoral, even though it’s harder and probably a disadvantage to her in combat, makes her a more likable character for me.

I swear every week this show just gets better. It is probably my favorite this season. I really hope Asuka gets some more action next week and gets to master her gift. It’s no fair there are only 3 episodes left! I don’t want it to end! ;A;

There better be some demand for this to continue. For utter trash to get tons of repetitive arcs & series while this just get 10 measly episodes is just plain sad. I want to see vol 3 & 4 animated. They make vol 2 seem completely boring – although vol 2 does the same to vol 1.

What, no mention of You kicking the crap out of a golem? That made the episode start with quite a bang.

And I have to admit, this has grown into one of my top three best new shows this season as well. It might not have the epic story of, say, Zetsuen no Tempest, but if there’s anything the show does right, it’s providing just plain, pure FUN. All the characters are just amusing as hell to watch, it provides plenty of badguy-stomping given that the cast is full of badasses, it avoids all the pitfalls that could damper my enjoyment and it really is one of those shows that I watch asap. I’ll miss it when it’s over (though it’s getting an OVA, at least).

And speaking as a figure collector, Kurousagi is getting a figure. Weeee~

At this pace there it’s a 50/50 chance of finishing vol 2 (festival arc). It would be interesting what they had in plan with the OVA though, as next 3 vols are a single arc. There are some side stories author published separately but they are rather short and most likely wouldn’t be enough.

the show will finish vol.2 just bases on the OP alone… not to mention the story won’t be “complete” if it doesn’t… but then again, vol.3 and vol.4 ties back to the first two volume (in a sense expand the story), so it is a bit side to not see that animated :(

As to the OVA, if my info is correct, it is bundled with vol.8 of the LN, so likely it will be a side story kind of thing, but can’t run out the prospect of season 2 given the popularity of the story

good episode all around… glad that this time most of the jokes were remain intact from its LN counterparts… though I felt the anime has given more more spotlight and hints about pied piper of Hamlin than the original (not that I am complaining)… As to who might be behind the scene, all I can say is that don’t jump to conclusion just yet. There are a lot more to it than meets the eye…
Thanks for the coverage as always, Moomba!
ps. I am totally with Izayoi and Shiroyasha as far as making black rabbit wearing that ero suits!! xD

The attack will undoubtedly come from Rattenfänger with their obvious connections to the Pied Piper and the swarm of rats Asuka was forced to face.

This is a curious thing to say. Certainly this is what the characters are supposed to think, but did you somehow miss the voice in the dark before the rats attacked? The one accusing the fairy of falsely claiming the name of Rattenfanger? It seems fairly obvious to me that what we have here is the Pied Piper, who identifies themself as Rattenfanger, and then a completely different and probably utterly unrelated community that happens to be named Rattenfanger. Pied Piper is getting an attitude about anyone using his/her/its name and tried to kill the fairy who was claiming it. Asuka just happened to get caught in the middle.

Ah, you raise a fair point there, that’s certianly possible. The impression that came to mind when I saw it was that the fairy had been cast out of the Rattenfänger community or something and was being chased for continuing to use its name. I think a lot of this came from the fact that Asuka found the fairy completely alone rather than with other members of the community.

That’s a possibility, I suppose. I hadn’t considered that. It still seems less likely to me, however. The minds that created that giant golem Asuka was admiring, Dean, seem to have been focused very differently than the one that controls swarms of rats to attack people. It seems more likely to me that the Rattenfanger that created that golem is an entirely different group than the Pied Piper and whoever may be working with him/her/it.

I suspect what will happen is the heroes will be keeping a close eye on Rattenfanger’s game with Kasukabe, and Pied Piper will end up causing trouble while their attention is misdirected.

Though JMO, I agree with Moomba’s assessment that the Rattenfänger community and the Pied Piper are connected (ie. Pied Piper is the leader of the Community). However, I didn’t make the connection that the fairy had left the community or was cast out per se. I simply took it as the Pied Piper taking offense that his/her/its (maybe even the community’s?) name was sullied by being used so casually by a “lowly fairy.”

Frankly, I found it odd that the fairy was part of such a community. Such a “person” just didn’t seem to fit into that sort of belligerent group. She didn’t seem forced to join (rather proud of the group’s display), so maybe the Pied Piper took over? Missing quite a bit of information here.

there are actually 6 vol. of LNs so far, vol.7 is coming out this spring, and we will get an OVA when vol.8 of LN comes out I believe… anime is in the middle of vol.2 right now, and will most likely finish vol.2 and finish its run.

by reading up to the beginning of vol.5, I have to say the anime did a great job condensing material, rearrange events to make sense (flashbacks and all), and put up an entertaining shows… only minor details are cut (mostly jokes and some inner thoughts). so anime only viewers aren’t missing all that much…

I read Chinese translations… the first 4 volumes are translated officially by a Taiwanese publisher, and vol.5 and vol.6 are in translation process by the Chinese LN community. Though I do wish baka-tsuki would pick it up…

Thank you for the info. That’s comforting to know. One thing that always puzzles (and frustrates) me is when an anime adaptation of a quality, well written source (LN or manga), significantly deviates for no apparent reason with seemingly inevitable result of a worse show (IMO of course) than would otherwise be if the director/producers just stuck with the original material as much as possible.

There’s always some changes necessary with anime adaptation – especially for one season (12-13 episode) shows (10 episodes is even worse :<), but I fail to understand the need to go beyond what's necessary. Given your comments, I'm not surprised at all that I'm liking Mondai-Ji-tachi more and more while another *cough* LN adaptation has almost fallen off my viewing list because so much source material has been cut/modified.

I believe that somewhere on Baka-Tsuki you can request LN to be translated (probably one of the page where people can leave comments)… though I am not sure how exactly it works. Someone said before that one of the BT translator didn’t like this LN series… but given how good the anime is so far, there might be enough interest for the project to start… I wish I could translate, but my English is no where near as good as it needs to be for translation…

@jrj & XRick: There’s a thread in the “proposed projects” section of the Baka Tsuki forum already requesting translation for the LN. Anyone can sign up and add their voice to the requests. AFAIK, the way it works is that unless a translator(s) decides on his/her own to pick up a project, projects with the most requests potentially get picked up by translators who are caught up or have finished a project and are willing to do more. I know there’s one translator (HS DXD I think) who posted a poll on what he should TL next since he was caught up with his primary project. In short, it’s possible, but the I find the fact that there’s been no move yet to translate the LN a bit disheartening. There’s A LOT of stalled projects on Baka-Tsuki unfortunately.

@jrj – frankly, I don’t think your English skills are nearly as bad as you think. Hard to say definitely from short comment posts, but I’ve certainly read worse on Baka-Tsuki. I’m not sure if it makes a difference, but remember that there are editors who help translators with English phrasing. If worst comes to worst, if you want a “confirmed” editor before you’re willing to translate, I’ll do it. Perhaps not apparent since I most posts occasionally contain “typos” (>_<), but I currently proof/QC for a manga scan group.

@Daikama, thanks a lot for the kind words xD
I guess my biggest problem is vocab… it is one thing to be able to communicate with others like posting comments and make people understand what you are saying, but another to recreate something that is already written (this is true since I have seen some really bad Japanese to Chinese translation, and even more so with Japanese/Chinese to English translation)… Plus time is a big big issue too :(
Having said all that, I will continue to support the series one way or another xD Hopefully some more capable people will pick it up for many people to benefit xD

This was a great build-up episode for the conflict to come next week.
Some good mysteries – the little fairy, the demon lord from the prophecy.

…and Izayoi’s up-coming awesomeness.

But, aside from all of that, I have a feeling Asuka will be the focus of the
next conflict. Only because of the rats; maybe shell find a way to level up.
Maybe Asuka/Leticia? Leticia mentioned that she could easily handle many rats…

According to some folks who were discussing this elsewhere, it’s a reference to the sound the rats make. Apparently the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound rats make is “chuu,” which can also be a word for kissing. Apparently what the preview actually said is “someone gets ‘chuu chuu’ with Asuka in the dark.” Of course, they undoubtedly intended it to be interpreted as someone trying to kiss Asuka in the dark. More than one of the episode titles have had somewhat suggestive interpretations like that.

By the way, does anyone feel like this show is skipping out on a lot of details? Don’t get me wrong, the plot, setting, and characters are awesome so far but I feel like things move too fast. For example, Lili kind of just showed up as a given character and all we get to see in You’s fight is the end? Man, this series should have been slated for 52 episodes with full character and plot development (even with side characters)!

I think a LN-adaption series never went as far as 24-26eps per season, so that could be a novelty, if it were to happen someday…

Actually, both Fate Zero & SAO were LN adaptations that were not oly 24-26 episodes, but planned that way from the start. Same for Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (Meh, that show needs at least one more season for a decent ending :<). You can add Spice & Wolf as well, though the airings were not in consecutive seasons.

Note sure what you mean by "per season" since technically, there's a maximum of 12-13 episodes per anime season (at least AFAIK). At best a show will be scheduled for 24-26 episodes over two consecutive seasons from the beginning. I can't think of an anime that had two new episodes broadcast each week (i.e. 24-26 episodes per season). Maybe something like One Piece or Naruto, but I don't watch those shows.

About plot/character development, that depends on the LN content, which is only 6vols-long so far, filler material just wouldn’t cut it…

I don’t think its fair to assume that with “only six volumes” there isn’t “enough” material without adding “filler material” (I guess that would be LN Side Stories?). Perhaps in some cases, but no where near true for all or even most. Well, at least as long as the anime adaptation closely follows the source LN. For example, Fate Zero LN has four volumes TOTAL which were covered in 25 episodes. High School DXD anime covered the first two volumes of the LN in its first 13 episode season. Certainly not an absolute rule, but at for LNs with significantly lengthy volumes, I believe that two or maybe three volumes per season (again for faithful adaptations) is a fairly accurate assumption.

Actually, both Fate Zero & SAO were LN adaptations that were not oly 24-26 episodes, but planned that way from the start. Same for Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (Meh, that show needs at least one more season for a decent ending :<). You can add Spice & Wolf as well, though the airings were not in consecutive seasons.

Note sure what you mean by "per season" since technically, there's a maximum of 12-13 episodes per anime season (at least AFAIK). At best a show will be scheduled for 24-26 episodes over two consecutive seasons from the beginning. I can't think of an anime that had two new episodes broadcast each week (i.e. 24-26 episodes per season). Maybe something like One Piece or Naruto, but I don't watch those shows.

What I meant “per season” was that, so far as I remember, no LN series passed the “24-26eps” limit in a single run, a short break would separate each, like with Shakugan no Shana as well.
And it seems I really made a mistake there, I was talking of “cours”, which usually go up to 13eps, those of 24-26eps I should have said “2-cour” series…
And BTW, Denyuuden have material enough for two or more series, if I’m not mistaken, check Wikipedia.

I don’t think its fair to assume that with “only six volumes” there isn’t “enough” material without adding “filler material” (I guess that would be LN Side Stories?). Perhaps in some cases, but no where near true for all or even most. Well, at least as long as the anime adaptation closely follows the source LN. For example, Fate Zero LN has four volumes TOTAL which were covered in 25 episodes. High School DXD anime covered the first two volumes of the LN in its first 13 episode season. Certainly not an absolute rule, but at for LNs with significantly lengthy volumes, I believe that two or maybe three volumes per season (again for faithful adaptations) is a fairly accurate assumption.

Most of times, LN content is filled with the mind-talk of the protagonist, since those stories are usually told on first-person view, so there’s a good amount of content that ends up being cut to accomodate an Anime-format.
But there’s also times that, depending on the popularity of the LN and/or the production team’s planning, they end up cutting alot of possibly good content of the LN only for comercial purposes or the like, I’m not quite sure.
Faithul adaptations, I’d so love to see those happen too more often…
SAO, for example, I read the LNs of the two arcs it ran through, and they ended up cutting a few things here and there…
There are times one cour runs through as far as four LN volumes, that means lots of good content may have been axed…

@XRick – Your reply helped clarify things greatly, and it looks like we are in complete agreement. Perhaps I misread your previous post.

Faithul adaptations, I’d so love to see those happen too more often…

That’s a huge issue for me. If the LN source material is of sufficient quality and popularity to justify the expense of animating, why make any changes to the story/dialog other the the minimal amount necessary for adaptation to a different media? Rather than try to “improve” the source material’s already good to excellent story, characters, and plot development, I think it makes much more sense for the anime director/producers to focus on visual quality, voice acting and overall production quality.

RE: Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu, I’m sure there’s another 24-26 eps of LN material left (maybe more). I only mentioned 12-13 episodes because while I certainly would like 24-26 eps., given the shows popularity (underrated IMO), I see 12-13 eps. as a “best case” scenario. As it stands, I doubt there will ever be another season.

@Aoihoshikage,
actually anime has added some stuff… Lily’s involvement in this arc of the LN was almost non-existent… she start to show up as a regular character starting in vol.3 of the LN and has gain popularity since. I guess anime decides to use her popularity and added her in here… (she even has her own side story now)…

as to the Yo’s fight against the golem, the LN chapter starts like that too… all it described was Yo used her power to lay waste to that thing… (so don’t feel bad there)

and to give you some other examples, remember the girl/woman that showed up in the first episode as Izayoi beat up the water god/snake? She does not even enter the LN till vol.3 (but it is a logical place to insert her there), and remember the scene that Yo being hospitalized when they fought against the griffin? That scene, which I thought was anime original, actually shows up in the beginning of vol.4 (part of it got cut, but still serve the purpose well)… so the anime production team actually did a great job studying the source material up to this point. I agree that it should have more episodes, but I am hopeful that there should be a season 2 or an English translation project soon xD

Well, I’m glad to hear that the adaptation is at least faithful to the LN plot and doing so in a logical fashion.

@XRick and daikama
If my definitions are correct, one full Anime “season” is considered 22-26 episodes or 2-cours (i.e. 2 quarters or half a year). Most shows these days seem be 10-13 episodes or 1-cour (i.e. a “season” defined as winter, spring, summer, or fall). Some shows are two full seasons or run a full year (FMA, FMA Brotherhood, Fullmoon wo Sagashite, Zoids Genesis, just to name a few). Of course, I’m excluding the never-ending Shounen series. Anyway, I felt Mondaiji should have had the potential be at least a full 26 episode season by adding more details. Unfortunately, I believe Mondaiji is slated for a measly 10(?)episodes, which is why I suggested a lack of detais. Then again, I remember Maburaho was adapted to Anime when only 2 novels were out and a lot of really crappy filler episodes were used to pull a full season.

Also, 24-26 episode light novel adaptations are not a novelty. To add to the list: Shakugan no Shana, Toaru no Majutsu no Index, Toaru Kagaku no Railguns, and Zero no Tsukaima (spread over a few years). Yup, I listed all of the J.C. Staff novel adaptations that were less than stellar compared to the novels…

@Aoihoshikage – I’ve always thought an amine season = 12-13 episodes following the “Winter”, “Spring”, “Summer” & “Fall” designations. Maybe it’s better to use “initial” or “first” rather than “seasons” for this discussion.

While I do not consider a 24-26 episode first run LN adaptations to be a novelty, I do think that is the exception rather than the norm. Given the cost of anime production, it’s not surprising that anime producers choose to go the “safe route” and approve only a 12-13 episode initial run. If the show proves popular enough & makes enough $$$, then the expense of additional episodes are justified. Thus, I consider 24-26 episode initial runs reserved for only the most popular LNs.

As for Mondai-Ji-tachi, to be clear, I agree with you. Not only would the anime adaption be better if given a 24-26 episode initial run, but deserves one as well. A 12 or 13 episodes first run, though less than desirable, is at least palatable. However, 10 episodes, if true (maybe I’m in denial here), borders on ridiculous IMO. If the producers felt that the LN was worth the cost of adaptation in the first place, there is no reason IMO to limit production to 10 episodes rather than 12 episodes minimum.

That being said, I think the director and staff deserve praise for doing as well as they have so far with adaptation – especially if only 10 episodes. This could have turned out much worse with such a ridiculous time constraint.

Meh, kind of late to post & Moomba “stole” most of my comments anyway (Nice job on the review BTW). Anyway, a few thoughts on EP 07.

-Last week I posted that I thought EP 06 was the best episode so far. Well, that lasted a week. I must say that EP 07 tops them all for me so far. I actually watched it twice in a row.

- Like Moomba, this show is fast becoming, if not already, my favorite show of the season. It just keeps getting better which (IMO) is what quality shows do. There’s surprising depth to the show. Rather than just fall back on some cool action scenes and call it a season, IMO the show has demonstrated a fine overall balance of humor, plot, character development and action. Sure some episodes may lean towards one aspect or another, but never so much that I found it one dimensional.

- I mentioned last week that the quality of the characters were one of the show’s strengths, and EP 07 showcased that again IMO. I found Asuka struggling with the fact that her powers were nowhere close to omnipotent a solid and realistic line of character development. While the Perseus leader ultimately broke free of her “command”, he did struggle a bit to do so. Sure he’s not on the maou (demon lord) level, but he did strike me as more that just the random “middle boss” type. He was a feared community leader and a member of Thousand Eyes. Yet the mind controlled rats couldn’t care less if Asuka “commanded” them to leave or instead offered free cheese for life as a bribe (BTW I do understand the “Piper’s” strength, not the rats, matters). I never thought I’d view Asuka as the weakest of the trio, but here we are.

- Ahh, Shiroyasha… She continues to gain points with me by providing some excellent humor, but now we see the makings of the show’s ultimate comedy duo when she pairs up with Izayoi (who has funny moments in his own right). I’m hoping she has an “anti-loli” transformation like Leticia – to which Izayoi makes some snarky comments. Totally LOL’d at this scene, not to mention this scene, this scene, and this scene. Probably shorter just to link the whole episode rather than list screen shots for all funny moments this week. IMO, those two should always have at least a little screen time together each episode. Shiroyasha & Izayoi – fighting not only to save the fragile peace of Little Garden, but also the interest of ecchi anime viewers everywhere (to Kurousagi’s and now Asuka’s regret LOL). WELL DONE Mondai-ji writers.

- I could easily go on about other positive things in EP 07 (incl. the triumphant return of calico cat – hilarious next ep. preview) and the show in general. However, already my usual wall ‘o text (>_>) so I’ll end with this. The thought of this show being capped at 10 episodes gets worse each week. If each episode keeps improving on the last, not only does the show deserve a second season IMO, but a 14 episode second season to make up for the two were supposed to lose.

:< Not sure what happened to my post which was "under moderation" before (whatever that means) and now nothing at all. Very frustrating. Not sure if it's worth the effort to write again *sigh*

Not sure if this is "OT", but given the interest in the LN, I think merits posting. Anyone who would like the LN translated, please go here [sakurahonyaku.wordpress.com], and vote for Mondaiji-tachi. Also, add a short comment if you can (seems to help).

SO FAR Modaiji is leading, BUT that could easily change. We might be stuck with only 10 episodes, but an LN translation is a very nice consolation prize IMO, and this TL seems very fast :D.

Thanks. I really hope that Mondaiji-tachi fans will vote (MAKE SURE you also comment!) for LN English TL. Second seasons seem very erratic to me – there were shows I thought for sure would get a second season yet didn’t and vice versa.

The best thing IMO would be both – Season Two and LN translation, but in case the former doesn’t happen, having the latter is much better than nothing at all.

I’m guessing that Asuka may be able to command inanimate objects such as the giant robot. That is one of the easier ways to handle a power up for a mind controller character or else they end up either super strong (mooks) or super weak (bosses)